


TOURNAMENT OF TEA

by Notaname



Series: Dimitri Week 2019 [4]
Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Baking, Blue Lion Bonding, F/M, Fighting, Fishing, I don't know what to tag in this, Tea, hopefully cuteness, tournament
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-19
Updated: 2019-12-19
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:14:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,953
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21864298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Notaname/pseuds/Notaname
Summary: Rhea has the brilliant idea to raise school moral by holding a tournament. The prize? A tea time with Professor Byleth for a week. Naturally everyone wants to win.
Relationships: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd & Blue Lions Students, Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd/My Unit | Byleth
Series: Dimitri Week 2019 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1572406
Comments: 11
Kudos: 118





	TOURNAMENT OF TEA

**Author's Note:**

> I went through a lot of different ideas for this one. I more along the lines had way too many ideas! Late yesterday though I came up with this idea and it felt the most right. 16 pages later and almost 7k words this is what I have. Somehow I managed this! I hope you like it and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!
> 
> Day 4 for Dimitri Week 2019. A kind anon offered me a more focused/lewd prompt list of which I will attempt to get through.  
> Today's prompt is Tournament!

It was halfway through the year when Rhea made the official announcement, rumors had been swirling around the monastery for weeks before hand. The excitement was palpable almost, you couldn’t go anywhere without hearing about it, so when it became official all pretenses of learning pretty much came to a dead halt. That included the probably far too easy to distract Blue Lion house. All the Blue Lions were gathered in front of the poster that was pinned up in their classroom whispering excitedly amongst each other.

**Tournament of Tea!**   
**Win a week’s worth of tea parties with Professor Byleth!**   
**Pass each round to get closer to the prize!**

Then below was a list of all the different competitions that must be passed in order to make it to the next round. Overall it just seemed to be a list of things that the Professor liked to do, which made sense due to this tournament being about winning tea parties with the Professor. It basically went unsaid that all of them would be competing in this, everyone loved the Professor, and everyone especially loved tea with the Professor. Combining a rare treat to a whole weeks’ worth of special treats? Well, in a place where most students had more money than sense this was quite a commodity.

Still though… as much as Dimitri wanted to compete in this he doubted he would be able to make it even through the first round. Eating contest it read. Dimitri had never been a very big eater. When he could taste food he remembered enjoying it, ever since four years ago though any pleasure he had gotten from eating had long ago dried up. He held back a sigh as he resolved to do his best before getting knocked out and cheering for his fellow lions, at least Ingrid would make it through round one.

He was startled from his thoughts when he felt an arm go around his shoulder. Jumping a little he glanced over at Sylvain who was giving him his typical grin. “So, a tournament for the fair Professor’s hand?”

Scoffing a little at Sylvain’s choice of words Dimitri made sure to quickly correct him. “The prize is winning tea time with the Professor Sylvain.”

“I know, but it is more fun to think of it the other way.” Before Dimitri could scold him though he masterfully directed the conversation elsewhere. “Are you going to compete Dimitri?” He leaned in, lowering his voice. “It will be like going on a whole week of dates with the Professor wouldn’t it?”

By the time Dimitri finished sputtering at that, the sheer implication of it all! It seemed to settle in on him. The tea parties were almost like a whole week of dates with the Professor. Dimitri had never really made it a secret about his crush on their new teacher, while he never said it out loud himself, he never had denied any of the teasing or accusations his fellow classmates hurled at him. It was simply a fact, Dimitri had a crush on the Professor, and no he wouldn’t talk about it, thank you. Still, winning this contest suddenly got a lot more important to him, if the goal wasn’t to win then at least it was to stop other people from dating the Professor and losing what could be his only chance.

“Your Highness?” Sylvain teased, apparently enjoying Dimitri’s current internal meltdown.

Clearing his throat, Dimitri threw those other thoughts to the side, they would not help him win. “I am of course going to try to compete. I just don’t think I will be making it very far. I have never been a big eater.”

“That’s true.” With a grin Sylvain used his height to reach over the shoulders of his other classmates and pointed at the fine print below the first trail notice. “See here? You only need to be in the top 20 to move onto the next round. Or you can take option two.”

Dimitri had seen the appetites of everyone in the monastery and he doubted that he could even come close to getting in the top 20 students. “Option two?”

“Yeah, though honestly you have a better chance at getting in the top 20 than this. You have to finish one whole meal cooked by Flayn and not throw up for thirty minutes.” Sylvain laughed at that, clearly finding the whole thing funny. “You automatically make it to the next round if you finish that.”

What Sylvain thought of as a joke though was all Dimitri needed to get a much needed boost of confidence. While it seemed a little cruel to him to use Flayns, apparently, horrible cooking as a way to weed out the potential candidates, Dimitri wasn’t going to say anything. He felt a smile pull at his lips as he thanked Sylvain for his advice. “Thank you for pointing that out to me Sylvain, I will go with option two then.” With progress to the next round secured, Dimitri decided to get a head start on training for the combat round. He was going to need it if he was going to pass onto round three.

When the time came for the eating contest Dimitri stood in line with all the other students—the line itself wrapped around the dining hall—and waited until it was his turn to pick which version of the challenge he was going to attempt. As expected everyone was steering away from Flayn’s cooking, and each time someone else picked the other challenge Flayn’s shoulders seemed to droop a little. It was a little hard to see her smile becoming more and more strained at each passing person going by, it also helped Dimitri deal with the small feeling that had been building inside that perhaps he was cheating by taking advantage of the fact that he couldn’t actually taste her cooking. The thought of cheering her up by having at least one person accepting her meal would be worth continuing the little lie of omission.

So, when it came to his turn he made sure to give Flayn his best smile as he asked her to let him try her food. A small hush came over the loud dining room as someone finally accepted Flayns offer of a meal. Dimitri ignored it and the flurry of whispers that started up as he watched the green haired girl brighten up in joy.

“Yes! Of course you may try some of my food Prince Dimitri.” She sounded relieved, joy bubbling over as she hurried off to the kitchen to retrieve a plate of whatever it was she had made.

Ignoring the stares he could feel boring into him, Dimitri waited patiently for her to retrieve the plate and thanked her with a smile as he took his seat at one of the tables that were overburdened with the plates of the other contestants. With as much dignity as someone can muster in an eating contest when half of the contestants are watching you, Dimitri ate the dish of… well he couldn’t quite tell what it was other than warm and a little crunchy. When he finished he set his fork down, Dimitri accepted his automatic pass into the next round, thanked Flayn once more for her hard work and then went back to the training yard.

~

After the initial culling of the first group of contestants, and there were quite a lot cut, Dimitri found himself training mostly with Felix and Dedue, both of whom, along with Ingrid, were the only other Lions to pass the first round. Granted, Dimitri had a feeling that Felix had only participated so that he could get into the combat part of the tournament since Dimitri had never known him to be a fan of tea parties. He was unsure about Dedue reason for entering the contest as well, however he was not going to question it and was just happy the man was doing something for himself. Still, they all made good use of their skills, each of them having a good range of talents to enable them to practice against different fighting styles while teaching each other a thing or two.

“It amazes me, Boar that you still can’t throw a punch.” Felix’s voice was a little less harsh as he caught his breath, adjusting the gauntlets on his hands.

That was very true, it wasn’t that Dimitri didn’t understand the concept, he was just a little afraid that he could really hurt someone if he decided to punch them. He knew it wasn’t really a rational fear, he could hurt someone just as much with a spear, there was just something about how the weapon somewhat distanced himself from them that eased his mind.

“I would be happy to help you with your form Your Highness.” Dedue was kind enough to offer.

Seeing the sense in this, and knowing just how used to dealing with his surprise bursts of strength the two of them were reassured Dimitri that he wouldn’t hurt them. So between Felix’s sharp eye, and even sharper tongue, and Dedue’s gentle coaxing, Dimitri was finally able to get over his fear of hand to hand combat. While it would never be a favorite style of his, he felt confident that if he was ever disarmed he would be able to defend himself properly, extra human strength but no training was not a match against a truly skilled opponent.

Soon enough the combat part of the tournament was upon them. Dimitri waited patiently as the rules were explained. All they had to do was win two out of three matches to move onto the next round. It seemed simple enough and Dimitri was confident that he would make it onto the next round.

He passed the first battle against Raphael, enjoying the battle with the larger man immensely. The two separated with a smile, Dimitri promising to talk to the larger man about his own training routine when all of this was done. Wishing the other luck on his next few rounds. Unfortunately Dimitri’s next round was against Hubert. He had never dealt very well against magic and as much as he tried to resist he ended up having to call it quits and give the man a victory. Sighing he looked down at his spear, taking in the cracks along it after he had gripped it a little too hard when one of the dark spells had hit him.

This next round was a make or break for him, Dimitri had to win if he had any chance of making it to the next round. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw his next match was against Leonie. Not because he thought the aspiring mercenary was weak, more that he was relieved he wouldn’t have to contest against magic again. The two of them greeted each other respectfully before taking their places across from each other on the training grounds.

Leonie’s first few strikes of her spear were fast, quickly jabbing out, while Dimitri managed to dodge most of them a few did sneak through and strike at them. They hit hard and he was honestly impressed by her skill. He wasn’t about to give up though, he had to win those tea parties with the Professor! With that in mind he made to counter attack, swinging his spear forward hoping to knock Leonie’s out of her hand. It was at this time his spear chose to give out on him. The force of his swing had apparently put too much pressure on the weapon and it snapped in half in his hands.

The people on the sideline let out a loud cheer for his opponent at his apparent upcoming loss, the redhead herself gave a confident smile at him as she readied her spear in order to end this. Dimitri himself was almost ready to lose before he remembered the way Felix had spent all week sneaking through his defenses and slamming his fist into his chest while he had been training with his spear. Instinct and adrenaline took over as Dimitri channeled his inner Felix throwing his broken spear to the side as he readied himself. He reached out, dipping under and to the side and with the fear banished from practicing with Dedue all week along with Felix’s biting critique, he managed to flawlessly copy the move. And just like that it was over.

Dimitri was pretty sure Leonie only lost the round due to sheer shock that Dimitri had even attempted such a thing. She had stood up afterwards, gave him a laugh and shook his hand, commending him on his resourcefulness. The mercenary had been sure she would be winning that round the moment his spear broke, it was a good reminder for her to not get too cocky. He also had a feeling she wasn’t upset due to the fact she had already won her two rounds and was facing off with Dimitri due to the mandated three rounds.

Still, he was elated that he had passed! He had made it onto the next round! Sadly the next round was fishing, something Dimitri was woefully unprepared for. Still he watched in amusement as Felix promptly dropped out of the contest once the combat part was over even though he had passed all three rounds. He was even more pleased when he saw Dedue had passed the round as well, smiling up at his friend. “Congratulations on making it through to the next round Dedue.”

“Thank you Your Highness.” The brief smile that graced Dedue’s face though was quickly replaced with a frown. “However I must confess I do not know much about fishing. Duscur is a desert region and I never practiced it during my time in Faerghus.”

Sighing at that, Dimitri understood where Dedue was coming from all too well. He himself had never been fishing before either. Hunting, of course, but fishing? It was something wholly foreign to him.

Thankfully they had two members of their house who were good fishermen. Ashe and Ingrid readily agreed to help them with their contest, Ashe having lost in the eating contest, saying he liked cooking food more than he liked eating it really, and Ingrid who unfortunately had lost in the combat section of the tournament. So Dimitri and Dedue found themselves, along with everyone else still in the competition, waking up in the early morning to practice their fishing.

It quickly became clear that while Dimitri wasn’t a poor fisher, astoundingly he had good luck getting the fish to bite, he had a lot of trouble when it came to reeling it in. Either he pulled too hard and broke the rod, or the line, or even more horrifying tore through the poor fish’s cheek, or a number of other issues. Still, he was doing better than Dedue… The man from Duscur seemed to be hopeless at fishing, which surprised Dimitri since he was so calm and collected most of the time, patient with everything he did along with a gentleness that still surprised Dimitri. He had thought his friend would quickly adapt to this and hopefully adopt a new hobby that didn’t involve trailing him around.

“You have to be gentle Your Highness.” Ashe reminded him as he took the broken rod from Dimitri’s hands and fitted it with a new spool.

“My apologies Ashe, I wish I was a better student. Thank you for having patience with me.” He was very grateful for his friend’s tolerance for him breaking things, and the fact that he was taking time out of his busy schedule to teach him.

As always though Ashe seemed to stumble some under any praise Dimitri tried to give him. He stuttered slightly and lost a hold of the string for a moment. “Oh no Your Highness! You are a good student! You picked this up pretty quickly!” The two of them glanced over at where Ingrid was still trying to teach Dedue how to cast a line, somehow the giant of a man had tangled himself up in the line. It went unsaid between them that Dimitri had picked up the basics better than their more stoic companion. “You just need to be able to control your strength better and I am sure you will be able to land a fish big enough to make it to the next round.

“Perhaps, still, thank you for all your help Ashe. If it wasn’t for you I wouldn’t even know how to get bait on a hook, let alone a fish.”

Suddenly they were interrupted by Ingrid’s frustrated shouts, her thin patience already at an end. “Ah, perhaps you should go over there to help. Maybe Ingrid has some tips to help me control my strength a little better?”

Ashe quickly picked up what Dimitri wasn’t saying and after handing Dimitri back his fixed rod he ran over to help Dedue under the pretext that Dimitri needed Ingrid’s help. When Ingrid finally came over to help him her face was a little flushed due to her earlier emotional outburst. Still, she sat down patiently at his side and watched as Dimitri cast off another line while she picked up her own pole she had been unable to really use until now. “Thank you for helping us with this Ingrid.” Dimitri offered, hoping to help distract and calm his friend down.

“Oh it isn’t a problem at all Your Highness.” Ingrid offered as she cast her own line out. “I enjoy fishing, especially if you get to eat your catch after.

At the reminder of his friends insatiable appetite Dimitri let out small laugh. “Is that why you learned to fish Ingrid? So you could eat it after?”

The Pegasus knight hummed a little as she kicked her feet out underneath her. “Well, yes and no. Our territory isn’t very good for farming right now due to the weather, but we have always been able to go fishing, even if it is ice fishing half the time.”

At the reminder of the struggles Ingrids family had been having these past years Dimitri felt another wave of responsibility hit him. He did want to help them, he had found a few books in the library that dealt with farming techniques but he hadn’t had a chance to read them yet. Still, this was a problem all of Faerghus had. Perhaps he should look into recruiting a few scholars who knew about farming when he inherited his crown? “I see, well, you seem to enjoy it at least.”

At that Ingrid gave him a smile before looking up at where his line was suddenly twitching. “Oh, it looks like you got a bite!”

Brief panic gripped Dimitri for a second at the sudden pull on his line. Managing to get a hold of himself before his strength snapped it, the prince gently pulled back on the line hoping that this time he would actually hook the fish. After a few seconds of waiting he found himself surprised again that he had actually managed to hook it. Carefully, trying to remember to not rush things, to take in all the advice that Ashe had given to him, Dimitri started to real his catch in. Much to everyone’s surprise, but mostly Dimitri’s himself, he did managed to catch his first fish. A good sized Airmid Pike.  
“You did it Your Highness!” Ingrid cheered for him as she gratefully accepted the squirming catch into her hands so Dimitri himself wouldn’t crush it or something worse.

Off to the side Dedue and Ashe seemed to notice his success and came over to give him their own congratulations. Feeling much more confident in himself, Dimitri gifted the fish to Ingrid and Ashe so that they could enjoy it together for all their hard work and patience. He could defiantly do this. All he had to do was be patient and gentle and the next round would be his.

Still, all the patience in the world could not prepare him for the actual day of the contest. All ten remaining contestants lined the sides of the pond, rods and reels ready. To his left he could see Edelgard and Hubert whispering between each other as they stood straight backed with both of their rods ready. Somehow the two had ended up near each other when they had drawn fishing slots this morning. He suspected that they would be his biggest competition. Edelgard was gifted in just about everything she tried to do while Hubert was… well something about the man just kind of creeped Dimitri out. Thankfully to his right was the familiar friendly face of Raphael who thanked him again for training with him last week. All the way across the lake was Dedue standing there and as far as Dimitri could tell, miserable but doing his best not to show it. It had taken the combined efforts of all of them, along with the Professor themselves to even get him to be able to get his line into the water. Dimitri was still unsure how Dedue had managed to hook so many things behind him but he wasn’t going to question it, he had broken far too many rods himself.

Steeling himself Dimitri went over the rules again, trying to calm his nerves so he wouldn’t break the delicate tool in his hands. All he had to do was present the largest fish he could catch to the Professor who would then judge it and pick their five favorites from the batch. He could do this, all he had to do was at least catch one fish. He could do this.

~

He defiantly couldn’t do this. The time limit was almost over and Dimitri hadn’t caught a single fish so far, not even so much as a nibble. He was one of the last people left at the lake and he was starting to get a little worried, okay, a lot worried. Letting out a low sigh he looked towards his pole then followed the line down to the water where it dipped into the murky depths. At this point he would take anything, even a tiny fish so at least he would be in the running. Where had all his luck gone from his practice week?

As soon as he had thought that of course his line gave a mighty tug. And of course he was so surprised he jerked his rod up and felt the wood snap in his hand. He almost let out a groan of despair as he watched the line run out as the fish tried to escape. Thankfully Ashe was looking out for him and a quick thinker as shouted out to him. “Catch the line Your Highness! It is still on the hook!”

Jumping into action Dimitri reached out and caught the line in his hand, ignoring the bite of it into the leather of his glove as he stopped his catch from escaping. It had worked surprisingly! Trembling hands reached out and using all the delicateness he had learned from sewing he took a hold of the fragile thread and carefully started to pull his catch in, going hand over hand. With much patience Dimitri eventually managed it, pulling up a Bullhead just in time and rushing the huge fish over to the judging table just as the contest was called to an end.

He had made it! His fish dwarfed even Edelgards, who had been the first to turn in her own and had held the biggest fish competition title up until the last second. It was with great relief that Dimitri was announced to have made it onto the last round. Though he was somewhat sad that Dedue would not be joining him. Still, the larger man was smiling, he had managed to actually catch a fish, be it a small one, and just seemed to be proud of his accomplishment.

Still, the last round was going to be the hardest. They were to set up a perfect tea time for the Professor and judging staff to enjoy, which meant baking the treats, picking and brewing the tea on top of decorating the table. Dimitri wasn’t particularly good at any of those things.

Thankfully his classmates were offering to help him before he could even ask. It was no secret that the Blue Lions had the best cooks out of all the houses due to the fact that Dedue, Ashe, Mercedes and even Annette all managed to lure in quite a crowd when they were on cooking duty. Feeling a little overwhelmed Dimitri listened to their assurances, feeling his heart swell a bit as they all came to his aid.

“Baking is easy, Your Highness.” Mercedes offered with a smile. “All you need to do is follow the instructions and it will turn out fine.”

That was good, Dimitri could follow instructions, especially when it came to cooking. On the rare days he was assigned kitchen duty he either followed his partner or just followed the recipe. Since he couldn’t trust himself to taste test he had to trust the recipe and thankfully it hadn’t steered him wrong yet, still, he had never been complemented on his skills either.

“Oh and you need to come up with cute designs!” Annette offered, feeling pumped up as she stood at his side, always eager to help.

“Cute designs?” Dimitri was far less confident on picking cute designs.

“And you need to decorate the table too! It is for a perfect tea time and you know the Professor always goes out of their way to make sure things look nice as well as taste good.” Annette went on, she had already taken out a notebook and was busy scribbling down notes.

“You should probably fill it with things the Professor likes.” Ashe chimed in, going over to Annette and having her write down a few things on the list, both of them putting their heads together.

“I would be happy to assist you in setting up your tea time, Prince Dimitri.” Dedue offered, as always a steady wall of assistance.

“I don’t think I am allowed to have help making all of this.” Dimitri offered. “Still, if you could help me practice I would be eternally grateful.” He would be, and he would need the practice too.

Dedue simply nodded at that, agreeing with Dimitri’s thoughts on it. “I will go and reserve some kitchen time for the evenings, Your Highness.” He nodded his head slightly before turning towards Mercedes. “If you could pick out some recipes for His Highness to practice that would be wonderful, I trust your knowledge of baking varieties.” Which was very high praise from Dedue, before he walked off towards the kitchen.

“I can even help you bake some if you like.” The older woman offered Dimitri with a smile as she looked over at the list of what Annette and Ashe were working on.

“Oh no, Dedue can help with that.” Dimitri paused as he thought of something. “I actually need your help with something else Mercedes, if you wouldn’t mind?”

At his words the priestess looked surprised, eyebrows raising a bit as she regarded him. “Oh? What might that be?”

~

Dimitri was fretting a bit as he looked at his layout. He had worked hard on his display, but perhaps his classmates had worked even harder. Between Annette and Ashe deciding on Dimitri doing little flower and fish shaped cookies, Mercedes picking out the two recipes while helping Dimitri with his side project, and all of Dedue’s help in the kitchen—Ingrid happy to play the role of taste tester even dragging Felix into it—he had even seen Felix reach for a second of the cinnamon cookies. Surprisingly Sylvain had chipped into help as well since he had been suspiciously silent since the first round. The red head slipped him a small tin of weird looking tea saying he had heard this particular blend was the Professors favorite. It was all up to fate and the Professor now.

This was perhaps the most nerve wracking part of this contest. No matter how many times Ingrid had told him during practice that the cookies were pretty good, no matter how hard he had practiced baking with Dedue and Ashe, his hands had still shaken when he had pulled the cookies out this morning, he had barely been able to ice them when they had cooled. Even with the design and stamp Annette had given him along with plenty of colorful guides on how to decorate the little fish and flowers he still felt unsure. They were a far cry from professional and they did look handmade unlike… well unlike everyone elses. What he felt the most unsure of were the decorations. The table had a few flowers from Duscur on it, Dedue having assure Dimitri that yes it was ok to take them, and yes he knew the Professor liked these ones in particular. Still, the flowers were probably the best looking thing on the table.

No, what had him worried the most was his side project with Mercedes. What had seemed like a good idea at the time had perhaps not been such a good idea. He had wanted to put some of his new found skills in embroidery to work so he had asked Mercedes to help him come up with a doable design and sew a few lion faces onto the napkins and such. The kind woman had been all too happy to help him, not offended at all he had pulled her off the baking side to assist him in this. They had spent long hours, countless strands of broken thread, more bent needles than Dimitri cared to count, and one pair of destroyed scissors in Dimitri’s attempts at sewing. As a result plenty of lopsided little lion faces decorated the table. While Dimitri had been proud of his work at the time, now that he was seeing his table compared to Edelgards own perfect looking one. He knew he had as good as lost. His only hope was that Sylvain really had managed to procure the Professor’s favorite tea.

With a sigh he watched Rhea, Seteth, Flayn, the Professor, and Jeralt go through his other competitor’s tea time tables. Since he had been last turn in a fish he was the last one to serve. All he could do was hope that his tea wasn’t too cold by the time they got to him.

Eventually the group did make their way over. Dimitri felt nervous as they looked down at his much more meager table in silence as they sat themselves down. Thankfully it was Flayn who broke the silence.

“These cookies are shaped like fish! How wonderful!” She exclaimed as she picked up one of the fish shaped cookies and happily bit into it.

“Let us hope they do not taste like fish.” Seteth murmured under his breath as he took a flower shaped one.

“They do not! This one tastes of cinnamon.”

The Professor was silent as they reached for the teapot and poured themselves a cup of the red looking tea. Their face seemed to brighten up though, blue eyes growing bright as they took in the familiar color and scent of the tea.

“Would you look at that kiddo, the prince managed to get your favorite tea.” Jeralt laughed as he picked up his own cup and took a sip. While Dimitri couldn’t read the Blade Breaker, he did seem to be happy that his daughter seemed to be enjoying the tea. At least he knew that somehow Sylvain had actually known the Professors favorite and had brought it to him—Dimitri hadn’t even considered what type of tea he would brew until Sylvain had pressed the tin into his hands earlier that morning.

Up until now Rhea had been silent, watching all of them with a gentle smile on her face. “Did you sew these yourself Prince Dimitri?” Her voice was calm as she picked up one of the napkins at the table.

Feeling a small flush come to his face as his work was suddenly under scrutiny, Dimitri found himself answering sheepishly. “I only did the embroidery, Mercedes did the napkin, I hope that is ok.” He hoped he hadn’t disqualified himself from the competition for getting help like that. It didn’t seem to be a problem though as Rhea just nodded to herself as she stared at the poorly done lions face.

“May I keep this?” She asked eventually as she finally reached over to her tea, it had to be stone cold by now, and took a sip.

Not sure why anyone would want to keep his poor work, Dimitri could only nod in agreement. He didn’t care what they did with them. He probably never wanted to see them again after it was announced that Edelgard had won.

The whole time the Professor had been silent, sipping away at her tea and munching on the fish and flower shaped cookies. It was no secret that she could eat the whole monastery under the table so that was no sign that she was actually enjoying his attempts at baking. Eventually they thanked him for his work, Rhea and Flayn each taking their own lion napkins while the Professor gathered up the rest. She didn’t follow them, instead heading over to where Dimitri was standing off to the side.

“Yes Professor?”

“Can I have my Fathers and Seteth’s napkins too?” She asked, her face giving away nothing as she looked up at him.

Dimitri couldn’t help the wild flush that came over his face as he looked down. “O-of course you may.” His heart skipped a beat a little as she smiled up at him and nodded, tucking the napkins away somewhere and leaving Dimitri a little stunned.

Seteth’s voice broke through Dimitri’s thoughts as he called out through the great hall. “Would the contestants come up to the front, we have one more thing before we announce the winner.” Wanting to get this all over with, and curious as to what this last thing was, Dimitri headed up with his fellow contestants and stood in front of the panel of judges.

“Thank you all so much for participating in this event. We enjoyed all of your hard work through the tournament as well as the spirit of friendly competition throughout.” Rhea’s voice was kind as she addressed them. “I simply have one more question for you before the Professor picks the winner. What is the reason you want to win this competition? Please think on it a moment before we ask you for your answer.”

That was a very good question. Of course Dimitri wanted to win those tea parties for himself so he could spend more time with the Professor. Still, he never would have been able to get here if it wasn’t for all of his classmates who had helped him through this entire process. Would it really be fair to ask for the prize, on the off chance he did win, if he never would have made it to this point without them? The first round would have been a colossal failure if it hadn’t been for Sylvain pointing out the fine print. Without Felix and Dedue teaching him hand to hand combat he probably would have lost in the second round as well. Ashe and Ingrid had been instrumental in teaching him how to fish, not to mention how Ashe had helped him at the end. The whole house had come together to help him out in the final round as well. He couldn’t have done this without any of them. With that thought in mind it was easy for Dimitri to come up with his answer. Feeling confident in himself, he waited for the others to give their own response.

“Edelgard, what is your response?” Rhea asked, directing her warm gaze to the future empress.

“I enjoy my time with the Professor, she always gives helpful advice and a guiding hand when I need them the most. I would want to win the tea parties so that I could further deepen our relationship and bond with one another.”

Rhea just nodded and turned her gaze over to Hubert. “Hubert, what is your response.”

“I want to win so that I may give the tea parties to Lady Edelgard.”

Well, that was certainly no surprise to Dimitri, still seeing the way Rhea blinked a few times it was a surprise to her. She looked over at the next person in line. “Raphael. Why is it you wish to win?”

The large man laughed as he shrugged. “I just want to eat lots of food with the professor.”

A few members in the hall laughed at his response to that, even Rhea seemed amused before asking her question again to Claude.

The leader of the Golden Deer was just as quick to respond. “Like Edelgard over there I really enjoy my time with the professor. As an outsider she makes me feel like I might have a place here ya’know? Plus she is great for bouncing schemes off of.”

Rhea nodded once more as she listened to Claude—Edelgard leaned over and glared at the yellow clad man for stealing part of her answer. Finally she turned her attention to Dimitri. “Why would you like to win this competition Dimitri?”

“Well, at first I wanted to win for myself. However, I realized as I progressed through the tournament that I had help from all of my fellow housemates. Each one of them wanted to win just as much as I did and yet they still helped me. So, I would like to win for them so that I could give each day to one of them.”

The hall was silent after Dimitri’s answer, the judges staring at him for a long moment before Seteth spoke up. “You do realize if you gift all the days to the other members of your house that you will not have a day for yourself right?”

Nodding in acknowledgement Dimitri continued on. “I wouldn’t even be able to be standing if it wasn’t for them.” At his answer Seteth nodded and looked over to the Professor. In the end the Professor would be the one who would be deciding the winner.

Silence filled the hall as the Professor pondered over each of their responses, her dark unfathomable eyes meeting each of theirs as she studied them long and hard. Eventually though she seemed to make up her mind, nodding to herself before a small smile graced her gentle face. “I would like to have tea with the Lions next week.”

At her words Dimitri was sure his heart almost exploded out of his chest in relief and astonishment. He might have fainted for a brief moment if it wasn’t for an excited Annette coming over and wrapping her tiny arms around him in a hug. She was soon followed by the rest of the Lions coming over and dogpiling over him—the exception being Felix who simply stood near him and for once didn’t have any cutting remarks.

“I can’t believe you gave up all those tea times with the Professor, Your Highness!” Ingrid was the first to speak.

“All those dates sacrificed. I didn’t believe you had it in you. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised though.” Sylvain offered with a smile as he reached over them all and ruffled his hair. Dimitri wasn’t sure what to make of that comment and instead focused on fixing his hair.

“You didn’t have to give it up for us Your Highness!” Ashe seemed almost lost at the sudden gift.

“I know I didn’t.” He really did, and as much as he would like to have a week’s worth of tea with the Professor he knew he would like his fellow students to have the time even more.

It was Dedue who spoke up from the side, he seemed pleased at the victory even as he offered up his own reward. “If you would like I would gladly give up my time for you.” He would too, Dimitri knew that and that is why he couldn’t accept.

“Don’t even think about it Dedue. If it wasn’t for you, for all of you, I wouldn’t have been here in the first place.” With that he considered the matter settled dismissing any further complaints.

~

The Professor indeed had tea all next week with the rest of the Lions. Each and every one of them coming up to him after and thanking him for his gift to them—yes even Felix in his own way. By the end of the week Dimitri was feeling rather pleased with his selfless decision, seeing his classmates in such good cheer he couldn’t help but be assured he had made the right decision in giving them all away. When Sunday rolled around he found himself in the knight’s hall, practicing his lance work against one of the dummies there when he was interrupted by the Professor.

“Dimitri.”

Putting a halt to his routine Dimitri lowered his lance and looked over to where the Professor was studying him. “Yes Professor?” Perhaps she wanted to correct his form on something?

“Would you like to have tea with me?”

Blinking a few times in surprise at her question, he stared at her for a long moment before smiling. “I would love to have tea with you Professor.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you again for reading! Join me tomorrow for Dimitri's birthday and hopefully another story to celebrate him for Dimitri week!
> 
> I probably have a ton of mistakes in this, feel free to point them out to me so I can correct them. Thanks again for reading!


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